Introduction and Invitation

Constructing resources for assessment and instruction related to the eleven student outcomes contained in Criterion 3 of the ABET Engineering Criteria requires contributions across the entire engineering community. If you have one or more resources (for example, helpful papers, survey forms, assessment materials, instructional materials) for assessment and/or instructional related to outcome k click here. Please indicate whether and how you would like your contribution to be acknowledged. Thanks for contributing the growing understanding of how we might help engineering students develop knowledge and skills that they will draw upon throughout their careers.

Learning Objectives

The first step in selecting assessment and instructional approaches for a learning outcome is to formulate learning objectives that support the outcome. Learning objectives describe expectations associated with the outcome in terms of expected and observable performances. Several researchers have already constructed learning objectives and these may provide worthwhile starting points for others.

Expectations to apply knowledge of science, mathematics and engineering are prevalent in many engineering courses. As a result, Felder and Brent [1] suggest that faculty members will be able to use their usual learning objectives for their engineering courses. A team of researchers (Larry Shuman, Mary E. Besterfield-Sacre, Harvey Wolfe, Cynthia J. Atman, Jack McGourty, Ronald L. Miller, Barbara M. Olds, and Gloria M. Rogers) working a NSF-supported project, Engineering Education: Assessment Methodologies and Curricula Innovation, used Bloom's Taxonomy to develop and organize a set of learning objectives for outcome 3a (apply knowledge of mathematics, science, and engineering) [2]. They developed learning objectives for all six levels of learning in Bloom's taxonomy for two outcome elements:

• Apply knowledge of mathematics
• Apply knowledge of science and engineering fundamentals

The number and complexity of their outcomes elements is considerably simpler than elements for other outcomes.

Outcome 3a is one outcome where each engineering major (chemical, civil, electrical, mechanical, etc) might invest thought to develop program outcomes specific to their engineering discipline. For example, faculty members in electrical engineering at the University of North Dakota have several outcomes that are specific to electrical engineering [3].

References for Further Information